The Phantom and The Silence
by darkphoneix
Summary: Happosai finds an heir more worthy than Genma or Soun. Released from their servitude early, the two men part ways, one to raise a family, and the other to create a new school of martial arts.
1. Chapter 1

The Phantom and The Silence: Chapter 1  
  
Stalking through the night, deftly liberating mishandled and abused  
panties, Happosai paused, his super-sensitive hearing registering the  
wailing of an unhappy child. Normally the aged, well, very aged,  
prunish martial arts master would have passed the occurence off as a  
young parent shirking on their resonsibility, one of the few things  
that could actually upset him after centuries of debauchery, but along  
with the piercing cry came an unmistakable vibration. It was chi,  
pure, innocent, and raw, the kind of energy given off by the future  
powerhouses. Happosai himself once, in times long forgotten, gave off  
such an energy, or so his grandfather had told him. So too had  
Cologne, his lost love. Not including himself and the beautiful  
amazon, only three others in his three hundred and sixteen years of  
life, to his knowledge, had ever possessed the inborn quality such as  
he now witnessed.  
  
The gears in Happosai's perverted and aging, yet still brilliant mind  
began to creakily turn. Neither Genma nor Soun were really worthy of  
the title of Heir to the Anything Goes School(yes, I know only Ranma  
calls it that, well I think that's how it is). The only reason he'd  
selected the men in the first place was on the off chance that they  
would produce a suitable child to carry on the legacy, but Genma's  
wife was barely pregnant and Soun's two brats, while already  
demonstrating some potential, weren't suited for the task either.  
Hmm, the child 'was' technically being neglected, and if looked at  
from a certain perspective, Happosai himself was about the best  
protection any one person could have in life. Well, why not? He  
needed an heir, so he'd just make one on his own. Screw Genma and  
Soun, they were incompetent idiots anyway.  
  
Decision made, Happosai leapt a fence and crept through the open  
window of the crying child's room. It was a girl, he noticed when  
within visual and less passive chi sensory range. Sigh, he could  
still work with a girl, if he had to. On the other hand, having a  
girl that could grow up to be a babe and a loyally student would be  
kinda nice. He could even cop himself a feel without threat of severe  
violence. Happosai scooped up the squirming bundle, tucking his  
pittifully empty panty bag into his gi. Almost instantly, the girl  
quitened, leaning on the diminutive man's shoulder and sucking her  
thumb happily.  
  
****  
  
Ichiro Tomoe(can't remember or don't know Hotaru's pop's name) finally  
finished giving his wife her medication. A major part of the drug  
regimen the dying woman currently used was mainly to fight off  
debilitating pain in her joints and had to be injected. He wished he  
could have gotten to his daughter earlier, but Suki was in such pain,  
he couldn't bare to leave her until she was in a peaceful, drug-  
induced slumber.  
  
By the time the scientist had finished and covered half the distance  
to little Hotaru's room, the crying had ceased and quiet once again  
filled the house. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, the  
mentally and physically exhausted man turned around and headed for the  
couch where he slept in order not to disturb the little sleep his wife  
could get.  
  
****  
  
Two weeks later, Happosai found his wayward students. They were just  
coming off of a truly phenomenal binge and the effects of so much  
alcohol had turned the pair into complete wrecks, barely able to talk  
and extremely photosensitive. Ah, the good old days. Happosai  
remembered when he could do that, but now his body, tiny as it was,  
could injest enough booze to kill an elephant and only just manage a  
pleasant drunk. Hotaru, he'd decided to keep the name embroidered on  
the baby blanket, rested calmly in the sling across his back. Such a  
wonderful child. As long as she got lots of attention, she never made  
so much as a peep.  
  
Stockily muscled Genma and wiry but quick Soun were no match for their  
master on a good day. On a day such as this, they couldn't have  
fought off a half dozen ants, so they didn't even offer any resistance  
as Happosai moved around them, tapping several shiatsu points across  
their bodies. This would sober them up for a little more than five  
minutes, but the headache that came afterwards would last closer to  
five days and be mindnumbing in intensity. Happosai didn't care, he  
only needed five minutes.  
  
"Up up, you sorry excuses for men. Why, in my day, the old women  
would have laughed you out of the village if that little bit of saki  
got you so drunk. You should be ashamed of yourselves!" The ancient  
master only gave the young men a cursory pounding, a sort of going  
away present. After today, he didn't intend to ever see them again.  
  
"Yes, master," Genma grovelled, to be echoed by Soun. He had to say  
one good thing for the boys, they sure could pull off a good  
worshipping, not that such a skill did much good outside of the  
priesthood.  
  
"Now, since neither one of you has proven to me that you have what it  
takes to pass on the traditions of Anything Goes when I pass on, I  
have decided to take drastic measures. As of this day, I wash may  
hands of you. You are no longer of my school and may no longer  
practice its secrets. I have found an heir, and to show  
you just how pathetic you really are, my heir is a girl. Bwahahaha!  
You're places have been taken by a girl! A little baby girl!  
Bwahahahahaha!" Still cackling, Happosai leapt through the window of  
the seedy motel Genma and Soun were renting, smacking both of them on  
the way out.  
  
****  
  
Genma trembled in anger, a deep blue battle aura coating his  
thoroughly muscled form. He raised a clenched fist into the air and  
shouted,"Damn you, old man, damn you to an eternity in a hell without  
women!!!"  
  
Soun looked at his friend in confusion."Genma, tell me if I'm wrong,  
but isn't this what we've wanted for the last decade or so? I mean  
really, the master hasn't actually taught us any of his 'secrets' and  
all we've gotten out of him so far has been almost straight kempo."  
  
Genma, too, looked confused, then a sheepish grin spread across his  
homely face."You're right, old friend. I don't know what came over  
me. We're free, free at last! We must celebrate this wonderous  
occasion!!!" Genma pulled a half full bottle of saki from liquor-space  
and was about to take a pull of the already warm rice wine when the  
most amazing thing happened. Out of nowhere, literally, a band of  
sadistic dwarfs began to beat the inside of his skull with hammers.  
Genma dropped the bottle convulsively and clutched the sides of his  
head in agony.  
  
Soun was about to run over to his friend to see what was the matter  
when he, too, experienced the wonder of hammer-weilding hell dwarfs.  
  
****  
  
"But Genma, is a martial artist very manly if he doesn't belong to a  
school?" Nodoka asked wearily. Her pregnancy was nearing its end and  
little Ranma appeared eager to follow in his fathers footsteps as a  
martial artist, though she hoped her first born would be a bit more  
handsome than her own blunt featured, but lovable husband.  
  
Genma waved the possibility aside. Nodoka hadn't mentioned hauling  
out the old Misaki sword and he didn't want to give her reason  
to."Nodoka, dearest, don't worry. I'll simply combine my own schools,  
the Yamasenken and the Umisenken into a new school of martial arts.  
Isn't that great? Our Ranma will be the heir to a completely new  
style of combat?" When Genma had emerged from the hellish Dwarf jamboree, he'd had something of a revelation. He hadn't planned on using the Yamasenke nor Umisenken, since they were so dangerous. If Happosai had continued to instruct him, Genma wouldn't have needed his new techniques, at leasthe wouldn't if the old master's boasts proved true. Now, however, he was a schoolless warrior, a ronin. Without Happosai's 'training', he would have time to properly unite and master the new Toorima Ryu(I just got that name off a jap-to-eng dictionary on the web. It means phantom killer or phantome thief. Seems appropriate for a martial art based off of breaking into houses quietly and killing people quickly).  
  
Nodoka's eyes gleamed with pride. Genma was such a manly man! How  
many other men invented their own martial art? She wasn't sure, but  
the young woman knew that the number wasn't very high. She squealled  
in excitement, jumping up to hug her husband. Then, firmly glomped  
onto the man, her eyes widened and she let out a squeal for a  
different reason. It was time, Ranma was coming at last!  
  
****  
  
Soun cradled little Nabiki in his arms, rocking her gently as he and  
his wife Sakura(once again have no idea what this character's real  
name is) talked about the future of their family and the dojo they had  
inherited just months earlier.  
  
Sakura smiled, absently rubbing her bulging abdomen. A few more  
months and their little family would be getting a new member,  
hopefully a boy this time."Honestly, I never cared much for your old  
master." Big understatement. Sakura could feel when the old pervert  
was within a block of her and actively sought him out, a horde of   
angry women at her back every chance she got. Stupid little troll,   
she'd get him for peeping on her in the shower.  
  
Soun grinned lopsidedly."An opinion shared by many, my love, myself  
included. With the master gone, I can now seek out a new instructor  
to finish my education in kempo. In a few more years I'll be able to  
get a teacher's license and begin working as a sensei at the dojo."  
Soun would still maintain his friendship with Genma, but he just  
didn't have the drive for the martial arts that his friend did. And  
now, with the man preparing to create an entirely new martial art,  
Soun knew he didn't need to be burdened with the job of teaching his  
friend while he himself learned.  
  
****  
  
Sixteen years pass without incident. Genma masters his new school and  
takes his son, Ranma, on a training journey to teach the boy his  
family style and to make him a man amongst men. Soun, happy with his  
three daughters and wife, begins teaching kempo at the Tendo family  
dojo. When his wife dies of cancer four years after the birth of  
their last child, a girl by the name of Akane, he slips into a deep  
depression, but is able to press on and continue providing for his  
family(without the last few years of emotional torment from Happosai,  
he's got that little tiny iota of extra will needed to get a grip on  
his emtions).  
  
Hotaru Lee(I'm making that Happosai's last name just because I want  
to.) suffers none of the weakness or frailty that would have plagued  
her if raised in the normal manner. Despite Happosai's efforts, the   
girl, a beautiful and shapely sixteen year old, will not let him get within  
three feet of her unless they're fighting. Unfortunately for the old  
man, Hotaru, while still not skilled enough to defeat him in straight  
combat, is more than capable of dodging or otherwise evading any  
attempts at groping.  
  
AND lastly, Setsuna Meiou, a.k.a. Sailor Pluto, the Guardian of the  
Time Gate, spends a good portion of those sixteen years looking for  
Sailor Saturn who she knows is alive and living on Earth, but can not  
find no matter how much power she uses(this may be due to the chaotic  
aura lots of fanfic authors like to attribute to Anything Goes  
practitioners possessing).  
  
****  
  
Tendo, bringing Ranma by to visit.  
  
-Saotome  
  
  
Soun read the postcard with joy in his heart and tears in his eyes.  
He hadn't seen his oldest and dearest friend in over a decade, ever  
since he's begun the journey to teach Ranma the Toorima Ryu. Eagerly,  
Soun drew the other post card from the stack of mail. Maybe this one  
was good too. The front of the card, in a kind of cosmic joke unknown  
to Soun, was a picture of the planet Saturn.  
  
Ungrateful loser, bringing my 'Heir' to visit.  
  
-Happosai  
  
Joy left his heart to be replaced by dread, fear, anxiety, and a few  
other negative emotions. The tears dried up almost instantaneously.  
He had to prepare. The girls would need protection. Soun wouldn't be  
able to get them firearms in Japan, but cattle prods shouldn't be too  
much trouble.  
  
****  
  
Ranma was a teenager of average height, possessed blue-grey eyes  
within a mischeviously handsome face, and his tight black pigtail flew  
wildly behind him as he glided along the side of the high rise building.   
The young man wasn't flying, that wasn't something he ever thought could   
be accomplished by non-winged or non-draconian beings, but with one   
hand and both feet glowing blue as he created a chi enforeced vacuum,   
he defied gravity well enough to chase after his fleeing father who   
was only a floor or two ahead.  
  
"Get back here, old man!" Ranma shouted, using his free hand to fling  
a loose vacuum blade that lazily arched around the building's  
cylindrical exterior. The attack was a much blunter version of the  
true vacuum blade, the Toorima Ryu's main long range technique.  
  
A few moments passed before Ranma heard the yelp that signalled his  
father had been hit."Bullseye," he whispered, allowing his speed to  
decrease and cutting most of the power to the vacuum that held him in  
place. As a result, he began to slide downward, angling towards his  
falling father with steadily increasing speed.  
  
Within seconds he caught up to the older man. Genma, his gi slightly  
torn, was skidding along the surface of the building, much like Ranma,  
but with much less control. Ranma sighed. He'd have to save his  
father or they'd be stuck in Tokyo for weeks while the old bastard  
healed.  
  
The kick and burst of force shattered the thick pane of glass he'd  
been on and propelled Ranma fast enough that he would'd  
overtake his father and be able to intercept him before he impacted  
the sidewalk.  
  
****  
  
It was humiliating to be saved by his son, to say the least. Genma  
was as ugly as ever and getting on in the years, but most of his  
muscle had stayed that way, only a small portion of it going to fat  
over the years of daily gorgings on whatever food he could get his  
hands on. Genma closed his eyes and tried to guess how long they  
would continue to fall before reaching the Earth once again.  
  
Four seconds later, Ranma, with Genma slung haphazardly over his  
shoulder, slammed into the concrete sidewalk. Ranma's grunted at the  
effort, though his legs barely buckled from the force. The sidewalk  
wasn't nearly so lucky. It exploded into a cloud of shrapnel and  
dust, leaving a sizable crater behind.  
  
Ranma threw Genma into the rubble and said,"If this is another  
fiance, father, I'm gonna turn mom loose on your ass."  
  
Genma shuddered. Not really a fate worse than death, Nodoka could be  
at least as bad, though, if she ever decided to really use the Saotome  
blade. Ever since she'd given her old one back to her gradfather to  
be passed on to her nephew, she took every available opportunity to  
show off the Saotome blade. Thankfully the women didn't actually know  
how to use it. 'That' would be bad.  
  
"No, boy, I told you that last girl was the final engagement." Geeze,  
it's not like he'd engaged the boy more than five times. Once Nodoka  
had caught on to that one, she hadn't sheathed the sword for two  
weeks.  
  
"I just want to introduce you to a friend of mine. We once studied  
under the same evil master. When we parted ways, he settled down to  
teach and raise his family while I continued to develop our school to  
pass on to you."  
  
****  
  
Ranma snorted. He knew his father meant well, but he could sound so  
righteous and sage sometimes that Ranma thought he would gag. Evil  
master, eh?"Would that evil master be Happosai?" he asked.  
  
Genma's eyes widened and he looked at Ranma in terror."Don't say that  
name lest you invoke his presence!" he shouted. His hands trembling,  
Genma waved them over his head once and released a small amount of chi  
into the air. Sounds of traffic and conversation immediately faded  
away and the louder noises that they could hear were distorted beyond  
recognition."Ranma, don't ever say his name. That man is as close to  
a demon as any human can be. If he were to get his hands on our  
secret techniques, he would be unstoppable, a plague on the world." On  
the world's panties, anyway.  
  
Ranma couldn't help but take the old man seriously. He sounded trully  
scared and apprehensive and to use one of their school's most secret  
techniques in such a public place...He nodded in understanding and let  
the matter drop.  
  
****  
  
Hotaru's staff struck out, seemingly unguided, and smashed into  
Happosai's face just as he began an enthusiastic leap for her butt.  
With a pleasant smile on her face, the beautiful girl channelled a  
large surge of chi through the wood of the staff and thoroughly  
charred Happosai's head, turning his tiny little waxed mustache into a  
smoking ruin.  
  
"Grandfather, I've told you to stop that!" Hotaru chided, not really  
angry at her grandfather's antics. She was almost sure that the old  
man really couldn't control himself, but that didn't stop her from  
painfully reminding him that she was off limits, along with any other  
woman if she was around.  
  
His blackened face still smoking, Happosai walked beside his adopted  
granddaughter and the heir to his school, his head held low and his  
feet dragging across the cement dejectedly. Hotaru had grown into  
such a fine example of womanhood. It just wasn't fair that he  
couldn't fondle her occassionally. He looked up and his mood  
brightened visibly. The sign for the Tendo Kempo dojo was up ahead.  
Good, very good. Now he could show off what a real heir was about.  
Soun also had at least two daughters whom couldn't possibly be as well  
trained as Hotaru.  
  
****  
  
"Something feels...off, somehow," Genma commented uncomfortably as  
they neared the gate to his old friend's house and dojo.  
  
Ranma stopped, a look a concentration passing over his face for a  
heart beat, then nodded. It still erked him that his father was more  
sensitive to danger than him, but he was young and had plenty of time  
to sharpen his senses."Do you think it's the ninja zombies again?" The  
ninja zombies were yet another incident in a long line of  
catastrophies caused at least in part by Genma's efforts to train his   
son in the ways of the Toorima Ryu.  
  
Genma shook his head. How was he supposed to know that the pendant  
wouldn't just increase Ranma's skill, but would cause him to better  
himself by randomly fighting off a horde of zombies trained in  
ninjitsu. Stupid amazon artifacts."This feels more malevolent. Be  
ready, son, Soun and his family may be in danger."  
  
Ranma nodded again and began to focus and fold chi as much as he could  
without manifesting any visible signs. He felt his father do the same  
and followed the man over the wall.  
  
****  
  
"Grandfather, you pervert!" a cute girl about Ranma's age shouted,  
smashing a smoldering troll-like thing into a medium-sized koi pond  
with a staff that glowed yellow with chi energy. A small cloud of  
steam rose from the troll's landing in the pond. Beside him, Ranma  
felt his father fully unleash his battle aura, the telltale bending of  
space also coming into play. He was still visible, but a blink of the  
eye and the older man could vanish.  
  
Ranma didn't powerup any further than he already was. The girl seemed  
to have things well enough in hand. Unnoticed, by anyone, Ranma and  
Genma watched as another attractive girl, this one wearing a house  
dress and maybe a few years older than Ranma, stepped out of the house  
and fished the troll out of the pond with her broom.  
  
"Grandfather Happosai, that really wasn't very nice. You should  
probably go apologize to Nabiki for stealing her underwear," the girl  
said sweetly, smiling pleasantly all the while, though her nose did  
wrinkle cutely at the smell of burning human flesh.  
  
Ranma assumed the girl waving the cattle prod with sparks shooting out  
of the end was Nabiki...Wait a minute, did she say Happosai? Yes, she  
did. Ranma looked at the shrivelled little troll, his senses fully  
open. Wow, it had a seriously focused battle aura and its chi was as  
condensed as any Ranma had ever seen. That girl shouldn't have been  
able to take him out so easily. She'd called him grandfather, though.  
Maybe he'd let her hit him. Ranma had done that on more than one  
occassion when he'd fought female martial artists over the years.  
  
Now Ranma started laughing. He couldn't believe his father had such a  
deeply ingrained fear of the ancient man, even if he did have the  
power to back it up. Happosai just didn't have the look necessary to  
inspire fear. Oh well, his father was mostly an idiot and a coward,  
so he couldn't expect much out of him.  
  
Ranma's laughter drew the attention of the staff weilding girl, the  
broom weilding girl, the cattle prod weilding girl, and Happosai, who  
had finally stopped smoking. One smile from broom girl, a glare from  
Happosai and cattle prod, and a look of wary respect from the staff  
girl later, and Ranma remembered his manners."Ah, sorry. I'm Ranma  
Saotome and this is my father, Genma Saotome." Ranma reached out and  
drew his Genma from hiding.  
  
From the back porch charged a man wearing traditional samurai armor  
and he waved a cattle prod around like a katana. He rushed Genma and  
the two men met, embracing each other in bone crushing bear hugs and  
laughing without restraint.  
  
Ranma tore his gaze from the reunion when he felt a powerful presence  
close by. He turned to face the presence and came face to face to the  
cute girl with the staff. Wow, up close she looked a whole lot  
better. Those purple eyes were strangely exotic, too.  
  
"Hi, I'm Hotaru, wanna be friends?" she asked, extending her hand in  
greeting.  
  
Ranma gaped at the girl for a moments, but then with a grin accepted  
the offered hand and said,"Sure."  
  
****  
  
Author's Notes: This was originally an idea by Cymage, but I somehow  
got trapped in it and have found myself absorbed by the story. I'm  
still gonna continue The World at War, and probably Till Death Do We  
Part, just with this thrown in. Yes, I'm an evil bastard deserving of  
death. I can't help it, I didn't intend to write this as anything  
more than an idea. Oh well, just stop foaming at the mouth and try to  
enjoy the story. Had some weird formatting problems with his, but I   
think I have them worked out. Please send C&C to me at   
dark_phoneix@hotmail.com 


	2. Chapter 2

The Phantom and The Silence: Chapter 2  
  
Sweat soaked and panting, Ranma grinned at his opponent. Hotaru was  
equally bedraggled and favored her left leg noticeably."You're good,"  
Ranma admitted, not in the least perturbed by the girl's skill and  
power. Many of his more powerful techniques were crippling in the  
best of circumstances and had to be held back in this situation.  
Hotaru didn't have such a handicap and used her chi force to her  
advantage.  
  
"You're not too bad yourself," Hotaru conceded, using the momentary  
break in action to catch her breath and stabilize depleted chi  
reserves. Ranma had an entirely too high tolerance to attacks that  
should have left him in bed for weeks.  
  
Ah screw it, they hadn't agreed on just using their respective  
schools, anyway. Ranma drew up his chi and folded it, wrapping the  
air in layers about himself. Once the desired effect was established,  
he shunted a portion of his aura several feet to his right. Hotaru  
automatically assumed the aura to be Ranma in hiding. She gathered a  
chi bolt in either hand, throwing one with the intention of stripping  
away Ranma's cloak and lowering his defenses, and following it with a  
smaller, but more concentrated one that would hopefully knock the boy  
on his ass.  
  
Ranma didn't have much time to build up a significantly powerful  
strike, for to gather his chi slowly enough to make a sizable attack  
would alert Hotaru to his deception.  
  
A moment passed before Hotaru launched herself after her dual attack.  
Ranma would have no way to dodge as she brought the fight in close and  
used her slight speed advantage. She was already in the air and  
flying at her target when the first strike passed harmlessly and  
without effect through where Ranma should have been. Even as she  
realized her mistake, Ranma was making his move. Skating around the  
dojo's perimeter, Ranma had made no noise, his vacuum soled feet never  
touching the mats. His small and relatively harmless chi bolt took  
Hotaru in the back of her weakened knee, choking a startled cry from  
her as her forward momentum slammed her into the barely padded floor.  
  
Dropping his cloaking field, Ranma did a single-handed running  
handstand, using his free hand to tap a series of pressure points  
along Hotaru's left torso and breast. As he flipped back over and  
skated out of retalliatory range, Ranma could already see the Hotaru's  
impressive aura begin to bleed out uncontrollably. She didn't have  
any control over her aura, Ranma knew, but it provided her with enough  
of a cushion for him to pull off an explosion without hurting her.  
  
Ranma snapped his arms back as if to pull of a double vacuum blade  
attack, but instead he used alternating vacuum zones and a small  
amount of chi to form two opposing currents. The air filled with a  
shreeking roar that shook the dojo to its foundation and a distortion  
passed through the space between Ranma and Hotaru.  
  
It would detonate before hitting Hotaru, shredding most of her aura  
and leaving her defenseless, or that's at least what would have  
happened if Hotaru's aura hadn't formed into a giant hand in the last  
fraction of a second before the vacuum bomb went off, grasping it  
tightly and redirecting its force. Ranma was amazed that the girl had  
managed such a complex manipulation while under the effects of that  
shiatsu combination, but amazement was muffled by the realization that  
his attack had just lost all controlling factors. He threw himself to  
the dojo's floor just as the bomb exploded, throwing omnidirectional  
waves of concussive force throughout the dojo.  
  
Hotaru's last ditch effort had succeeded in shielding her from most of  
the blast, but her close proximity to it still caused her more than a  
comfortable amount of trauma.  
  
****  
  
Hotaru and Ranma had to help one another out of the dojo, neither of  
them having enough limbs working at the moment to attempt the effort  
unaided. Hotaru supposed that they shouldn't have scared everyone off  
in the begginning of the fight or they could be getting some first aid  
right then.  
  
"I guess that's a draw," Ranma said. His right eye was swollen shut  
and that entire side of his face was black and blue. Ranma had never  
fought anyone to a draw before. Even his more viscious 'sparring'  
sessions with his father were always decided matches. That Ranma  
always won these was a given.  
  
"Yeah," Hotaru agreed, wincing internally as she thought of the fit  
her grandfather would likely throw when he discovered his  
granddaughter and heir hadn't been able to soundly massacre Genma  
Saotome's heir. Happosai may not respect Genma, or his invented  
martial art, but Hotaru did. It's hard not to respect an art that  
lets it practitioner partially beat the living shit out of you.  
  
The cavalry finally arrived. Kasumi, complete in nurses attire, came  
out of the house, a medical kit clutched to her chest. She was  
followed by an arguing Genma and Happosai.  
  
"You'll see, you incompetent tub of lard!" Happosai crowed."My little  
Hotaru will wipe the floor with that pathetic excuse for a martial  
artist you call your son!"  
  
Genma's pathological fear of his former master seemed momentarily  
forgotten."Ranma is the greatest martial artist ever, you shrivelled  
up little pervert! That little trollop of yours probably can't so  
much as make a battle aura." That the two men were stupid and  
completely ignoring signs they'd both seen went without question.  
  
The tiny man and his one time student caught sight of their heirs at  
the exact same time. Their mouths fell open and neither seemed  
capable of speech.  
  
"Oh my!" Kasumi exclaimed, forcing Hotaru and Ranma to seat themselves  
on the back steps."You two really shouldn't play so rough. Someone  
could get hurt." She opened the tackle box-like first-aid kit and  
began extracting bandages and ointments.  
  
"Sorry, Kasumi," they apologized simultaneously. Hotura continued,"We  
just got carried away."  
  
"Sure was fun, though," Ranma said, still excited and pumping with  
unspent adrenalin.  
  
Genma and Happosai came out of their mental fog within a second of  
each other. Genma snatched Ranma up by his pigtail and Happosai used  
his pipe, liberally charged with chi, to knock Hotaru a few feet into  
the air.  
  
"Boy, how could you let yourself be beaten by a girl?! A girl?!"  
Genma shouted. Waving his son around like a rag doll, Genma proceded  
to dress Ranma down with every insult to his manhood that he could  
remember or create on the spot. Ranma, his body beaten and chi  
reserves greatly weakened, was in no position to fight back.  
  
On the other side of the yard, Happosai was tearing into his student,  
though with much less violence. He would have copped a feel or ten,  
too, if he didn't fear what the girl would do to him when she  
recovered."To think that after all these years of diligent effort, my  
heir would allow herself to be beaten by a Saotome!" Happosai wailed,  
lacing Ranma's family name with as much disgust as his squeaky old  
voice would allow."If your grandmother Cologne found out about this  
she would have a stroke!"  
  
****  
  
"Stupid old bastard," Ranma muttered to himself."I didn't lose." Not  
that he had had time or the energy to inform his father of the fact  
while he'd been getting thrashed."When I can move again, I'm gonna  
make him beg to die. Better yet, I'm gonna tattle on him to mom."  
  
Hotaru limped into the dojo where Ranma had set up his bedroll. Soun  
had reluctantly, through a generous application of force and death  
threats, invited Happosai to stay in his home, and with him Hotaru.  
Genma and Ranma were, by default, welcome guests, but they were  
displaced by Happosai. Genma wisely chose to not sleep within close  
range of Ranma, so he found himself all alone in the drafty training  
hall.  
  
"I brought you something to eat, since you were unconscious when  
Kasumi served dinner," Hotaru said. She sat a tray laden with several  
covered dishes and a small pot of tea next to Ranma.  
  
"Thanks." Ranma was pleased to note that Hotaru's aura had begun to  
return to its full strength and that the light bruise he'd  
accidentally inflicted to her cheek was fading away without lingering  
signs. His own face only sported a couple minor bruises now, and  
besides a few deep tissue injuries, his only concern now was working  
out the nerve disrupting shiatsu attacks Hotaru had used. They were  
persistant and interfered with his healing.  
  
Hotaru watched Ranma as he ate, silently observing the careful  
manipulations and adjustments he was performing to his aura as he  
inhaled Kasumi's cooking. She'd forgotten about those, and was  
ashamed to have used the amazon based attacks to make him more  
intolerant of her heat based chi attacks.  
  
"Here, do it like this," Hotaru said. She reached out and laid her  
hand lightly atop Ranma's forearm. She felt the faint tugging of  
Ranma's unusual chi aura that she'd experienced during their fight,  
but disregarded it as unimportant at the moment. With skin to skin  
contact, and Ranma's willingness to allow her to alter his aura,  
Hotaru was able to reverse most of the cat's tongue pressure points.  
Ranma himself caught onto the specific procedure and finished.  
  
"What was the purpose of that one, anyway?" Ranma asked, confused  
because he hadn't felt any difference in his fighting ability or  
perception during the fight after it'd been used on him.  
  
Hotaru looked pensive for a couple seconds, but her face cleared and  
she said,"I guess I should tell you, since knowing the procedure  
without knowing the effects of a technique can be dangerous." She'd  
had 'that' particular belief drilled into her by her adopted  
grandmother. "It's called the Full Body Cat's Tongue and it makes a  
person super sensitive to heat, especially hot water. I intended to  
use it in conjunction with a hot chi attack, but I couldn't hit you  
with it, so the effort was wasted."  
  
"Uh, no offense, but that's a pretty silly shiatsu technique," Ranma  
said. He could see where it could have lasting consequences if not  
cured, especially for someone wanting to actually bath, but in a  
fight, the situations for hot water to be used were rare.  
  
Hotaru nodded."A lot of Amazon attacks have dumb names. That really  
fast speed manuever I used is called the Chestnuts Roasting Over an  
Open Fire, for example." She wasn't even going to mention Mousse's  
fist of the white swan. What kind of idiot uses a training pody as a  
weapon?  
  
Ranma had wondered about what Hotaru'd called out when she attacked  
him with the supersonic punch/kick combo, but his head had still been  
ringing from a powerful axe kick he'd taken. He'd never heard of  
Amazons, either, but Hotaru probably hadn't heard of the Musk, so they  
were on even footing.  
  
"The Musk have something like that. I don't know about yours, but  
their variety uses chi to enhance muscle strength and speed." It  
wasn't as good as Hotaru's chestnut thing, though. Only by using a  
vacuum to help pull his punches forward and reduce air friction had  
Ranma been able to keep up with the girl's speed.  
  
An hour passed as the pair discussed complicated and largely esoteric  
aspects of their differing arts. Ranma wanted to learn Happosai's chi  
temperature and aura manipulation and Hotaru wanted to learn to  
control vacuum and air currents like Ranma. Neither of them voiced  
their desire. They had just met and it would be impolite to exchange  
techniques that belonged to their masters, no matter how stupid,  
useless, perverted, etc, etc, etc. their masters were.  
  
****  
  
"What's your problem, Akane?" Nabiki asked as she joined her sister at  
the breakfast table. The youngest Tendo was glowing brightly and she  
was clutching her chopsticks so tightly that her knuckles had gone  
white.  
  
Akane growled,"Those two...phonies! They come here, take over my  
dojo, and pretend like they're better than me! So what if they can do  
special effects. Fireworks aren't used by 'real' martial artists."  
  
Nabiki nodded absently, choosing not to reinforce her sister's  
delusions any farther. The girl was good, a winner of several  
tournaments and awards for excellance, and Nabiki didn't want to piss  
her off, but she had a tape of Ranma and Hotaru's little sparring  
session and what she'd seen had scared her. Akane could smash bricks,  
boards, and in some cases, bend metal bars. She sometimes even made a  
battle aura like the one she had going at the moment. Those two,  
phonies wasn't the word, something more like superhumans, defied  
nearly every physical law Nabiki knew of.  
  
Even now, Ranma and Hotaru looked pristine, none of the signs of their  
cataclysmic battle remaining from the day before. The characters from  
animes she'd seen didn't even heal that fast. What kind of people had  
her father got them mixed up with?  
  
"School?!?" came the shout from the living room."Why do I have to go  
to school?" Hotaru didn't sound any happier than Ranma had when he'd  
been told five minutes earlier.  
  
"Because, granddaughter, I won't allow my heir to be an uneducated  
simpleton while Genma's brat recieves a proper education," Happosai  
answered calmly.  
  
"Simpleton?!" Not the correct thing to say, not at all. Happosai was  
probably thinking the same thing as Hotaru began beating him with her  
staff.  
  
The sound of Akane's chopsticks exploding into a miniature cloud of  
splinters drew Nabiki's attention to her sister. A large vein had  
become prominent in the girl's forehead and was throbbing perceptably.  
"Now I have to put up with them at school too?" Nabiki backed away as  
her sister's battle aura began to throb in tempo with the vein. That  
was just creepy. Oh well, she wasn't really a breakfast person. A  
muffin on the way to school would do just fine.  
  
****  
  
"This is so lame," Hotaru complained."Grandfather has turned into such  
an idiot since we came to Tokyo." Hotaru was almost certain that Tokyo  
wasn't the problem. Soun and Genma, Genma especially, seemed to bring  
out the worst in her grandfather.  
  
"My old man is always an idiot, so you're lucky," Ranma said, looking  
down at the fighter from his place on the fence. While Hotaru walked  
beside Akane, who was wrapped in a grim and brooding silence, Ranma's  
feet remained motionless, his aura compressed and inverted along the  
bottom of his slippers and causing him to slide along easily.  
  
Hotaru shrugged the matter aside. School wouldn't be too bad. At  
least she'd have Ranma to talk to and the last time she'd got a chance  
to socialize with girls her own age was back in the Amazon village.  
She looked at Ranma curiously, not for the first time wondering why he  
chose to travel in such an unorthodox manner."Ranma, why do you do  
that?" she asked, pointing to his feet.  
  
Ranma grinned,"Practice. The more I practice the stronger a vacuum I  
can create." Hotaru accepted the answer without question, but Akane  
grumbled something about showoff con artists.  
  
The clock tower of the school came into view a couple minutes later.  
Ranma was about to ask Hotaru if she wanted to race, but Akane began  
to chant,"I hate boys," repeatedly and he looked at her. She  
continued the litany and charged forward, sprinting full tilt towards  
school.  
  
"What do you suppose that's all about?" Hotaru asked. Akane was  
weird. Akane was also freakishly hateful and gave off mega jealous  
vibes. Hotaru couldn't help that she was better than the girl on  
practically every level of the Art, and likely in every other way too.  
  
"Beats me," Ranma replied. Akane was weird. Ranma had taken an  
instant dislike to the girl. She just couldn't seem to accept that  
there were people in the world mroe talented than her.  
  
"Don't just float there, let's go find out!" Hotaru called, already  
jogging towards the school. She sensed Ranma's rapid approach and  
stopped, bending her knees slightly, then leaped at the entrance to  
the school. Just as she became airborne, Ranma joined her. They  
landed on the school's outer wall on either side of the iron gates.  
  
The courtyard of Furinkan High School was littered with the insensient  
majority of the school's male population. Standing in the center of  
the devastation was Akane. From the girl, radiating in a loose  
spiral, were groaning boys, and one girl who had got caught in the  
melee before she could escape, or that's what she would tell anyone  
who asked.  
  
"She's not too bad on crowd control," Ranma commented lightly.  
Everybody has to have at least one good quality and it looked like  
they had just found Akane's.  
  
"We might as well go and congratulate her," Hotaru added, though she  
didn't know what exactly had prompted Akane's actions. With a nod of  
agreement, Ranma jumped from the wall, angling for Akane's right side.  
Hotaru landed to her left.  
  
"Nice work, Akane," Hotaru said. Akane didn't hear her, though. She  
was still caught up in her 'I hate boys' chant.  
  
Hotaru felt something approaching her at high speed and reflexively  
plucked it out of the air. It was a rose. Where in hell had a flying  
rose come from?  
  
From the steps of the school someone loudly asked,"And who is this  
prime piece of woman flesh that stands before me?"  
  
Hotaru and Ranma turned to see who the new comer was and nearly gagged  
when they saw a boy a year or two older than them wearing tiny leather  
briefs and nothing else. In one hand he held a leather riding crop.  
  
"No matter!" he cried."I shall give you pleasure through the ecstasy  
of pain!" The insane pervert with a death wish jumped the last few  
steps to the ground and began running straight for Hotaru, swinging  
his crop wildly.  
  
As any good girl would do, Hotaru screamed,"Eeeek, pervert(okay, maybe  
all good girls wouldn't do this, but for the sake of the fic, they  
do)!" and pulled her staff out of empty space. The boy didn't even  
know what hit him as a beam of boiling red chi slammed into him and  
threw him into the wall of the school.  
  
****  
  
Author's Notes: Uh, not much to say, sorry. C&C is always nice, and  
you can send me some at dark_phoneix@hotmail.com  
  
The idea for the displaced aura came from Gogolu(sp?), I think. 


	3. Chapter 3

The Phantom and The Silence: Chapter 3  
  
"Damned pervert!" Hotaru hissed as she followed closely behind  
Ranma."I can't believe that his father is the principal." They were  
heading for Ranma's house where he assured Hotaru his mom would be  
able to help her get re-enrolled in a school after getting expelled  
for 'attacking' the principal's son without just cause.  
  
Ranma looked back to grin at Hotaru then decreased his sliding pace  
along the sidewalk and came to a steady cruising speed beside the  
girl. "What I can't believe is that no one minds the principal  
dressing up like a woman," he said. Principal Kuno was the most  
hideous woman he'd ever seen.  
  
Hotaru made a gagging noise deep in her throat and replied,"Ugh, don't  
remind me." Hotaru easily kept up with Ranma, though she couldn't  
reproduce his gliding trick, and the pair streaked down the street  
towards Juuban. Raising her voice to be heard better, Hotaru asked,  
"Ranma, are you sure your mom can get me back in school? Grandfather  
may do something to that crossdresser that could get him in bad  
trouble if she can't." Perverted Happosai may be, but he cared greatly  
for his heir and had an overprotective streak a mile wide.  
  
"Trust me on this, Hotaru, I've seen her make grown men cry just by  
glaring at them." It didn't hurt that she carried around a katana,  
either. Nodoka had as forceful a personallity as any Ranma had ever  
encountered, and his mother didn't mind using it to her advantage.  
  
Hotaru nodded hopefully. And sped up to catch up with Ranma who had  
began to increase his pace.  
  
****  
  
Hotaru still wasn't having much trouble keeping up with Ranma, but  
fifteen minutes into their trip, Ranma suddenly reached out and  
grabbed a lamp post, using it as a fulcrum to change his momentum and  
propel him down an intersecting street like a bullet. Hotaru cursed  
as she frantically launched herself into the air to avoid running into  
traffic. A nearby apartment building served as a spring board, and  
with a few secondary jumps from surrounding buildings, Hotaru was back  
alongside Ranma.  
  
"Idiot!" she snapped, bopping him on the head with her staff."You  
could have at least warned me!" The staff slid back into stasis and  
Hotaru apologized,"Sorry, that was uncalled for, but don't be so mean  
next time."  
  
Ranma took the hit in stride, sensing that there had been no real  
harmful intent and not really minding the small amount of force she  
had used."I didn't leave you behind intentionally," Ranma claimed,"I'm  
just used to running on my own and forgot about you for a minute."  
  
Hotaru accepted Ranma's apology and assumed he accepted hers. From a  
few scattered signs, Hotaru could tell that Ranma had led her to  
Juuban. Tokyo was much larger than she at first believed. They'd  
been clearing better than fifty kilometers an hour for at least twenty  
minutes and there was no sign of an end to the sprawling metropolis.  
  
The air in front of Hotaru, within a heartbeat, thickened noticeably  
and Ranma's arm snaked out, catching her around the waist tightly.  
She nearly squealed in fright, not expecting the sudden action, but an  
iron will and Ranma's hand across her face kept her silent. They were  
no longer moving, Hotaru noticed, yet only a moment earlier and ten  
feet back the pair had been blurs of superfast movement. The trick  
with the air must have been Ranma's version of brakes.  
  
"Shhh!" Ranma whispered fiercely as he held his finger across his  
lips. Hotaru nodded and he withdrew his hand from her mouth."Look,"  
he breathed, pointing around the corner of a small intersection.  
  
Hotaru followed Ranma's gaze and tensed in preparation as she saw a  
nine foot tall, vaguely female demon ravaging a storefront and  
smashing several parked cars. Now that she had stopped moving, Hotaru  
could easily hear the destruction."That looks like one of  
grandfather's creatures." Happosai was always summoning up demons for  
her to fight. It kept her sharp, he claimed. He'd never before  
raised one that did anything but attack her, though, with the  
exception of some smaller dog creatures that he occassionally took out  
on panty raids.  
  
"Huh?" Ranma asked dumbly. As a frequent visitor to Juuban, Ranma had  
seen plenty of these things, but at the urging of his mother, always  
kept to himself and left the Sailor Senshi the task of elimanting  
them.  
  
"Grandfather uses demons to train me sometimes, but they never bother  
anyone else." The creature in the mean time had destroyed another car  
with a blast of purple fire.  
  
"Oh, well that's something different. This is probably just another  
of the demons that are always showing up around here. You ever heard  
of the Sailor Senshi?" Hotaru shook her head negative."We'll wait here  
so you can watch the show. They're really pathetic. I mean they have  
these little tiny skirts and can't fight worth a shit. Mom says not  
to pick on them, but sometimes I can't help it. About the only thing  
they have going for themselves is their magic. I don't know where  
they got it from, but the stuff is pretty effective. Anyway, you'll  
see."  
  
Hotaru was about to ask Ranma what in Hell he was talking about when a  
loud voice rang out across the impromtu battle field."For destroying  
such a wonderful place as a lawyer's office...wait, nevermind that! I  
commend you for your service to the community, but the destruction of  
so many innocent automobiles can not be forgiven! I, Sailor Moon,  
warrior of love and justice, shall punish you!!!"  
  
A girl with long blonde ponytails, dressed as Ranma had said, in a  
tiny little mutli-colored skirt, as well as a skin tight bodysuit that  
showed off her curves in their entirety."You didn't mention stupid  
speeches," Hotaru whispered to Ranma.  
  
Ranma grinned evilly."I didn't want to spoil it for you."  
  
Back on the battle field, Sailor Moon had been joined by another four  
sailorsuited warriors of love and justice. Similar speeches were  
spouted and four more girls made fools of themselves."This is  
embarrassing to the female gender," Hotaru said in disgust."Why would  
anyone choose to fight in micro-skirts?"  
  
Ranma shrugged."I don't have a clue."  
  
"Oh my, I didn't believe her when she told me you silly little twits  
actually wore those things, but she was actually telling the truth!"  
Bellowed the demon thing. Laughing giddily, it began to gather  
electricity. the energy beginning to crackle and spark over its purple  
fur."Die!!!"  
  
The senshi all narrowly avoided the attack, diving behind cars or into  
craters as the purple lighting the demon threw from its hands raked  
the scene completely. The black-haired girl in red was the first to  
regain her feet.  
  
"Mars Flame Sniper!" she shouted, forming a bow of fire and launching  
a flaming missle at the demon. The projectile slammed into the  
demon's right forearm but did no noticeable damage to the spiked  
gauntlet it wore.  
  
The demon chuckled, then suffered a coughing fit as it inhaled the  
smoke left behind from the firebrand's attack.  
  
"Jupiter Oak Evolution!" This came from a brown-haired girl in green.  
Wave after wave of electric force cascaded from her outstretched  
fingertips as she piroquetted gracefully. The energy flowed around  
and over the demon, once again leaving her unharmed.  
  
"Come now, is that the best you have to offer?" the demon sneered.  
She raised wickedly clawed hands into the air and cackled to the  
heavens as power began to build between them."I shall destroy you  
all!!!"  
  
"I won't allow you to harm anyone else, you foul creature from the  
negaverse!" Sailor Moon exclaimed, raising a wand that looked  
suspisciously like a dildo. She glowed, she twirled, she shouted  
something totally ridiculous and inappropriate for the situation and  
in the end did more property damage than the demon had. And to top it  
all off, the demon stood not half a foot to the left of the energy  
beam as it destroyed several buildings, vaporizing the people who  
lived within them.  
  
"Ranma, this is sad," Hotaru stated."We've got to help them." If she  
was understanding things properly, Hotaru thought that the girls were  
the good guys, but that last one, in her ineptitude, had just killed  
dozens of people and destroyed millions of yen worth of property. If  
the girl was that pathetic as a superhero, she should find another  
business.  
  
Ranma laid a restraining arm on Hotaru's shoulder."We're not supposed  
to interfere. They always win, eventually, and mom'll get pissed if  
she finds out that I revealed myself." Ranma could see how Nodoka  
didn't want him drawing attention to himself or his school, but she'd  
never even let him compete in any tournaments, even when he was  
assured a quick and easy victory.  
  
Hotaru looked ready to hold back, but the demon chose that moment to  
throw a massive bolt of black energy at the girl in the blue skirt.  
She attempted to dodge, and was partially succesful, her right  
shoulder barely getting tagged. Still, the blow held enough force to  
smash the girl into an overturned van. Hotaru broke away from Ranma  
and jumped into the fray.  
  
****  
  
Hotaru landed a dozen feet from the demon. From stasis emerged her  
staff, already whirling in a blurred disc and throwing blue fire from  
each end.  
  
"They may dress, fight, and talk like idiots, but at least they're  
human," Hotaru shouted."You, on the other hand, are not!" She brought  
the staff to a stop, pointing it directly at the demon. Chi gathered  
from Hotaru herself and the surrounding environment blasted into the  
demon in a continuous beam. The demon couldn't move fast enough to  
avoid the attack and had its left arm burned away.  
  
"Arrrrggghhhhhh!!! You puny human, you shall die a thousand deaths  
for this insult!" Black and purple energy poured from the ghastly  
wound, intertwining and becoming a viscous version of the missing  
limb."Arise my pets, arise and destroy those who would harm your  
mistress!!!"  
  
From every shadow in the abandoned street came thousands of cat sized  
demons, complete with tiny wings and miniscule fire breath. The  
purple demon cackled a final time before disappearing into a portal of  
the same energy it had previously lobbed around so negligently.  
  
"Who are you?" Sailor Moon asked, breathless from the strain of using  
her most powerful attack. It never occurred to her that her sloppy  
aim had cost scores of people their lives. The girl was flanked by  
her four friends, each looking at Hotaru curiously.  
  
"Uh, no one really, just a concerned citizen," Hotaru answered. The  
little minions summoned by the retreating demon were forming packs,  
some gathering together to create larger versions of themselves.  
  
Now only ten school, bus sized shadow demons, along with a few hundred  
of the small demons remained. From boths side of the street the  
demons stalked, converging on the senshi and Hotaru.  
  
Ranma appeared beside Hotaru, looking mournful. His mom was gonna be  
soooo pissed, but he couldn't let Hotaru get hurt."Unless you girls  
haven't noticed, there are some more demons to take care of," Ranma  
said coldly. He didn't approve of their careless methods and couldn't  
help but hold the senshi in disdain.  
  
"We might as well take care of them," Hotaru said."These...girls  
certainly aren't up to the task."  
  
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" one of the girls screamed  
indignantly. Ranma and Hotaru, now facing the demons, couldn't tell  
who has asked and didn't plan on acknowledging her anyway.  
  
****  
  
Ranma's match the day before with Hotaru had been a test of skill and  
speed mostly, with powerful attacks limited by their environment and  
the friendly nature of the competition. Now, though, Ranma had no  
intention of getting in range of the demons. Their mouths, little  
more than gaping maws filled with six inch teeth, dripped acidic slime  
that bubbled as it struck the asphault, and each arm was tipped with  
talons of dark energy that scraped deep furrows in the pavement as  
they drug the overly long appendages behind them.  
  
The nearest demon topped fifteen feet in height and had a flock of  
smaller demons orbitting it warily, carefully avoiding its snapping  
jaw. Ranma's battle aura came free, a great blurry grey distortion  
that nearly equaled the demon in height. Using his arms more as a  
guide for his battle aura, Ranma swept them both forward, patterning  
and arranging several layers of vacuum force. Windows exploded and  
buildings collapsed as Ranma unleashed his first attack. The demon,  
unaware, or too stupid to realize that the rapidly approaching zone of  
wavering air was an attack, didn't even attempt to dodge.  
  
The little demons simply ceased to exist as anything more than wisps  
of darkness that rapidly faded into nothingness. The big demon was  
more substantial, so when it was ripped in half by a pressure  
invariance, globs of slime and chunks of green bone splattered the  
area. A trio of elemental energy attack, fire, water, and lightning,  
careened into another of the big demons, killing it, but with much  
less speed. Its own little flock of mini-demons were left to fight  
over the corpse.  
  
Three more giant demons fell to Ranma's power, two of them in the same  
manner as the first and the last losing its head to a huge vacuum  
blade. The senshi took out the remaining two on Ranma's end. Ranma  
turned to see how Hotaru was doing and was releived to see the last  
demon on her end of the street fall to a focussed beam of chi.  
  
****  
  
As the last demon fell to the ground, its head and most of its upper  
torso burned away, Hotaru breathed a sigh of relief. The creatures  
had been practically immune to hot and cold chi, but pure chi,  
properly focussed with lighter emotions worked wonderfully to destroy  
them. The problem was that the demons were enormous in size and all  
but the last of them required massive energy discharges to bring down.  
Two of the senshi, with their efforts combined, 'had' actually managed  
to kill one of the demons, but that had still left her with three.  
  
"Nice work, a little messy, but nice," Ranma commented as he walked  
over to her, carefully avoiding the remains of fallen demons. His  
task was made easier as the black and purple innards turned into a  
fine black powder that rapidly ceased to exist in the mortal plane.  
  
"You too," Hotaru said, returning her staff to its resting place."Did  
you have to be so loud? I thought the whole point to your style was  
stealth." Hotaru stuck her tongue out at Ranma and tried to shake the  
ringing from her ears left by Ranma's thunderous attacks.  
  
Shrugging, Ranma said,"Sometimes the situation calls for brute force."  
  
"Hmmm mmm!" coughed one of the senshi behind Ranma, Sailor Moon.  
  
Ranma and Hotaru both looked at the girls."Wow, that was so cool!"  
Sailor Moon squealed."Are you magical warriors for love and justice,  
too?"  
  
Ranma turned a little green and Hotaru chuckled."Sorry, honey, but I  
wouldn't be caught dead in that getup."  
  
"We really should get out of here before reporters start showing up,"  
Ranma whispered to Hotaru."If mom sees me in the newspaper she'll  
freak out." To the senshi, he said,"Nice to meetcha and all, but  
you'll probably never see us again." With that, he enfolded himself  
and Hotaru in a blanket of warped chi and distorted air.  
  
****  
  
Ranma sat Hotaru down three blocks over and let the masking cloak fade  
away. Hotaru looked around, amazed that life and traffic were  
uneffected this close to a demonic battle zone."Don't ever, ever do  
that again, Ranma, not without my permission," she said, rebalancing  
her aura after such prolonged contact with Ranma's trademark vacuum  
aura. She couldn't imagine how his chi had become so warped.  
  
Confused, Ranma asked,"Why, it didn't hurt did it?" He sounded hurt.  
  
Quickly, to assuage Ranma's confidence, Hotaru said,"No, nothing like  
that. Your aura is just unusual, sorta like a vacuum, and it tries to  
pull mine in whenever we touch. I can fight the effects off without  
any trouble, but if I had extended my resources too far in that fight  
back there you could have unwittingly have drawn in enough of my chi  
to knock me out."  
  
"Ah, forgot about that, sorry," he said sheepishly."Pops says that  
eventually I should be able to pull away someones chi at will without  
any visual evidence. Not much of a way to fight, if you ask me. It  
would just knock the person out, but it'd be a great way to kill  
someone if the need ever arose." Ranma scratched the back of his head  
nervously.  
  
Hotaru reminded herself to never try the Happo Go-en Satsu on Ranma.  
To open a chi conduit between herself and Ranma would not be the  
safest thing to do. Maybe she should teach Ranma that technique.  
There would be time for that later."Oh well, it's not really important  
right now. Let's just get to your house."  
  
****  
  
"Love, I believe you were mistaken," the purple demon from before  
growled as she floated down out of the portal. Her demonic form  
became fuzzy and began to flex, moments later disappearing entirely.  
A young woman in her late teens now stood in the amber light cast by  
softly glowing lamps. Her aquamarine hair shimmered as the last  
vestiges of demonic prescence slipped away.  
  
From a shadow cast by a large bookcase, a pair of arms appeared. They  
wrapped around the girl's waist and pulled her into their owner's  
embrace.  
  
"How so?" Haruka asked teasingly, breathing on her lover's neck while  
caressing her breasts.  
  
"The Sailor Senshi are not the pushovers you made them out to be. The  
ones in the suits were pushovers, but the one with the staff, she tore  
my infernal-form's arm off with a beam of energy." Michiru didn't care  
about the encounter with the senshi, not with Haruka there to lean  
upon.  
  
"Perhaps we should consult your mirror later," Haruka suggested.  
  
"Yes, later, but now..."  
  
****  
  
"Wow, nice place," Hotaru remarked as Ranma pointed out the large  
house. Closer to a mansion, the house possessed a large outer wall,  
complete with iron gates and a coded entrance panel.  
  
"Mom's a little peculiar about it, well at least about the Garden."  
The Garden was something straight out of a cheesy horror movie,  
complete with giant carnivorous plants and living statues. They never  
tried to eat Ranma, so he didn't bother them. He typed in the  
security code and the gates swung open on their own volition."Stay on  
the path," he cautioned her, pointing out three inch spikes hidden  
along the slightly higher grass that bordered the walkway.  
  
Ranma led Hotaru into the house through a side door that opened into a  
spacious kitchen. A pot of something was bubbling on the stove  
merrily and the smell filled the kitchen with the aroma of chocolate.  
  
Hotaru was more than impressed with Ranma's home and was about to  
comment further on it when a beautiful green-haired woman wearing an  
apron over casual black slacks and a green silk blouse walked in.  
  
"Hey mom," Ranma greeted. Ranma's mother stepped forward and embraced  
her son warmly.  
  
"Ranma, I see you've brought a friend..." The woman's mouth fell open  
and her eyes widened, but she quickly controlled the gesture and  
said,"Nice to meet you, young lady. I'm Setsuna Meiou, Ranma's  
mother."  
  
Hotaru smiled and exchanged greetings with the striking woman,  
wondering silently to herself why she felt so familiar with Ranma's  
mother.  
  
****  
  
Author's Notes: Before anyone tries to attack me, remember this.  
Happosai took Hotaru as a child, therfore Mistress 9 never had a host  
and the entire Death Busters arc never happened. The Outer Senshi  
never had a chance to reawaken. The Inner Senshi have gone without  
the help of the Outers and Saturn and aren't as powerful as they  
should be. I don't really know what I'm gonna do with Haruka and  
Michiru yet, maybe something with them being swayed to use their  
latent magic for evil and were turned by it. As for Setsuna being  
Ranma's mother...I just had the idea while talking to a friend on AIM  
and decided to run with it. Setsuna could have had a big plan to use  
Ranma to control Hotaru so she seduced Genma and got knocked up, but  
then Happi stole baby Hotaru away and she couldn't find her, so she  
stuck with Genma and Ranma, eventually growing to love them and  
keeping Genma from making too many mistakes with her son. This  
chapter isn't proof-read, sorry. Didn't feel like rereading it. C&C  
is welcome as dark_phoneix@hotmail.com 


	4. Chapter 4

The Phantom and The Silence: Chapter 4  
  
"Uh, mom...isn't your name Nodoka?" Ranma asked, puzzled. Sure, his  
mom was weird, but she didn't go around claiming to be someone that  
she wasn't.  
  
The green-haired woman got the same stunned expression on her face as  
she had when she first saw Hotaru. Setsuna's head swung from side to  
side, taking in Hotaru and Ranma's confused gazes. Her mouth puckered  
into a little 'o' and she sat down in a nearby chair heavily, looking  
more worried than scared.  
  
"Are you all right, mom?" Ranma asked, walking over to the distressed  
woman.  
  
Setsuna looked up at her son and said,"Ranma, you know I love you.  
You do know, don't you?" She sounded desperate for acknowledgement of  
this simple fact.  
  
Growing more confused that ever, Ranma answered,"Come on, mom, don't  
ask stupid questions, I know you love me, just like I love you." Ranma  
looked at Hotaru, his eyes pleading for help. Hotaru was frozen in  
inaction, unsure of what to do.  
  
Her eyes hardening with determination, Setsuna stood back up, using  
Ranma's arm to aide her."Ranma, I'm not really Nodoka Saotome. That  
name is little more than a false birth record I created to keep the  
government out of my business." Without looking back, Setsuna strode  
out of the room purposefully.  
  
Ranma shrugged, hoping his mom wasn't going crazy, and followed her,  
beckoning Hotaru to join him.  
  
****  
  
They found Setsuna in a richly appointed parlor, the furnishing  
somehow managing to convey wealth but doing so with gentle warmth.  
Ranma knew his mom loved this room, for reasons he couldn't figure  
out.  
  
Setsuna was seated on a green and blue divan, her legs folded beneath  
her and a peculiar staff lying in her lap. Both Ranma and Hotaru  
thought it resembled an enormour key."Have a seat," Setsuna said,  
determined yet apprehensive.  
  
Ranma and Hotaru took a seat on a small sofa upholstered to match the  
divan that Setsuna occupied."Mom, if you've decided to have a midlife  
crisis, that's fine, I hear that everyone does eventually, but could  
you wait till we don't have company?" Ranma had wanted to make a good  
impression on Hotaru, but now he just wanted to get through the next  
few minutes without having to commit his mom to a mental institution.  
At least Hotaru probably wasn't thinking about her academic problems.  
  
Setsuna chuckled hollowly."No, my son, not hardly a midlife crisis."  
As she spoke she caressed the shaft of the staff she held, seeming to  
coax a flare of garnet colored light from the jewel at its crown. She  
sighed and continued,"I don't even know where to begin. I mean I've  
thought about it before, and planned what I'd say, because I knew you  
would one day discover the truth, but now that the time has arrived, I  
find myself speechless."  
  
Awkwardly, Hotaru said,"Ranma, Ms. Meiou, if this is a bad time, I can  
leave and come back later." Happosai was the only family she'd ever  
known, and while they cared for one another, she'd never had a very  
deep family bond with anyone. To intrude on another's felt wrong,  
somehow.  
  
"No, stay, this involves you too, Hotaru." Setsuna stared into the  
large gem on the head of her staff for a moment longer, then with a  
negligent flick of her wrist, threw it into the air. Ranma winced,  
hoping that nothing valuable was broken, not even thinking of  
retrieving it himself. Much to his amazement, though, the staff  
disappeared into thin air almost exactly like Hotaru's did when she no  
longer needed it.  
  
Ranma's mouth hung open. To perfrom such a feat, a person had to have  
strong chi control and years of practice, yet his mother had neither.  
Before he could enquire of what he'd just witnessed, Setsuna began,  
"Throughout the cosmos there are Powers. Neverending Time, the Void  
of Death, the everpresent Silence, Life's eternal battle. They are  
numerous and in our simple understanding, all powerful. For longer  
than any civilization has reigned on this planet, I have represented  
Time. When enemies from the past or future threaten our world, I hold  
vigil over the Time Stream, the true form of the Universe." The woman  
paused, surveying the rapt faces of her audience."Times are ripe for  
Change, another Power, to exercise its dominion. With my meager  
powers I have divined the future, subtly manipulating events to bring  
about the rise of an empire on Earth that would forever embody peace.  
Twenty years ago several thousand possible futures came into alignment  
without explanation. I was dismayed. The avatar of Silence would  
soon walk the Earth, a being of great power, enough so to utterly  
destroy Earth."  
  
Setsuna shifted, her eyes going to the floor as she continued,"As is  
within my power, I searched through the Time Stream for information  
that could help me temper the Silence, to stop it from carrying out  
its mission. To my amazement, I found the avatar as a small girl.  
She was horribly weakened, the results of an accident in her father's  
laboratory, and her power was being usurped by an entity long thought  
dead. Even with Time on my side, I could not change the course of the  
future in the few short years available before the Silence was born  
again. Desperate, I sought out in my own future, a way to alter  
upcoming events." Setsuna's voice echoed with timeless authority and  
experience. Hotaru and Ranma found themselves instantly believing  
her, unable to comprehend anything beyond her words.  
  
"To my shame, I saw in one possible future, one out of several  
billion, the creation of a new soul. It was the Void's messenger but  
on its own it would take countless millenia to travel across the  
immensity of space. I bound that soul into a child of my body. As a  
father I chose a simple man, easily controlled by his vices, who would  
trouble me little over the years as our son grew into his Power. The  
proper attitude and bit of cold steel turned Genma into a little puppy  
dog." Setsuna coughed nervously.  
  
"Ranma, you would have guided and protected the Silence's avatar until  
she grew strong once again. The Silence, though not evil, seeks to  
bring about utter Silence among the cosmos, and is anathema to Life.  
If the need ever arose, you would be there to eliminate the Silence's  
avatar before it could destroy Earth."  
  
"Anyway, shortly before you were born, Ranma, the avatar of Silence  
was stolen by a being of such a chaotic nature that the Time Stream  
flowed around him. In the advanced stages of pregnancy, I could not  
access my powers without endangering you, so by the time I could mount  
a search effort, it was too late, Hotaru Tomoe was beyond my power."  
  
Hotaru shifted uneasily, a few uncomfortable flashes of long dead  
memory running through her mind. A glimpse of a glaive slicing  
through a cybernetic demon's torso. A reflection of herself wearing a  
sailor fuku in the congealing puddle of blood from an octopus-like  
alien. The images, thankfully, disappeared as she blinked her eyes  
rapidly, unwilling to even imagine herself dressed like that.  
  
"My plans and machinations for the future instantly became useless, a  
massive jumble of random possibilities indiscernable to even me.  
Heartborken, my duty unfullfillable, I gave up, turning to my family  
for comfort. I learned to love Genma and made sure his compulsive  
urge to create a martial arts juggernaut didn't harm you, Ranma, by  
creating an image of myself as an honorbound woman fully intent on  
murdering her husband if he harmed her child." Tears sparkled unshed  
in Setsuna's eyes as she finally looked back up.  
  
"So you see, I manipulated time to bring you two together, but my  
failure only served to fulfill my earlier intentions. Now Hotaru is a  
healthy, vibrant girl capable of taking up her mantle as Silence and  
Ranma, my son, you need never carry out your own Duty as the Void's  
representative." Setsuna had tried so hard to squeeze in so much that  
she feared her son and his friend would not understand what she had  
intended, but confronting ones own demons is a struggle that can take  
a lifetime and she wasn't yet up to the task.  
  
Silence(not that kind, no pun intended) held sway for over a minute  
before Ranma spoke."...You gave birth to me just to play nursemaid or  
assassin to Hotaru?" Ranma knew his mother spoke the truth, but  
accepting the truth for what is was took more maturity and experience  
that he possessed.  
  
Sadly, Setsuna nodded."Never believe for an instant that I don't love  
you, no matter why you were brought into this world!" she stated  
vehemently.  
  
Ranma shook his head,"You even chose my soul for me..." he trailed  
off, unable to comprehend the implications of that act alone."Has  
anything in my life just happened on its own, or did you arrange that  
too?"  
  
"Son, I had no choice, plea-" Setsuna began, only to be cut off in  
mid-sentence.  
  
"Don't call me that!" Ranma shouted, jumping to his feet."I'm not your  
son! I'm just a tool for you to use!!" Reflexively, Ranma drew in his  
chi, warping it and his environment so as to make him disappear.  
  
****  
  
Hotaru was left in a situation she wasn't equipped to deal with.  
Setsuna was crushing the life out of her, sobbing into her shoulder  
pitifully, bemoaning her very existence. The teenager patted the  
distraught woman on the back and said,"Don't cry, he's a boy, they say  
stupid stuff all the time. When he gets hungry he'll come back,  
apologize, and everything will be fine."  
  
So, Happosai, her grandfather, the only steady adult figure in her  
life had kidnapped her as a child. She would deal with him later.  
Right now, she had to help Ranma's mother.  
  
"He hates me now," Setsuna claimed between racking sobs.  
  
"Shhh, he's just taking it hard." Hotaru herself wasn't taking the  
revelation all that easily. Silence, huh? What was Silence, and why  
would she, better yet how would she, destroy the world with it? That  
line of thought led her to Ranma's intended roll. Guardian or  
assassin. Why was she comforting a woman who had engineered the birth  
of a person who's sole purpose in life was had been to take care of  
her until she became too great a danger, then to kill her?  
  
The green-haired woman just clutched Hotaru more forcefully.  
Eventually, when she had no more tears to shed, Setsuna pushed Hotaru  
away from her and wiped her face with the corner of her apron."I-I  
apologize for burdening you with my troubles Hotaru, especially since  
you are as much a victim of my plotting as my son."  
  
"You were just looking out for the greater good, Ms. Meiou. I can  
understand that. I've lived a good life so far, I don't suppose I  
mind finding out that it wasn't as spontaneous as I once believed,"  
Hotaru assured her. Grandfather, on the other hand, had a lot to  
answer for.  
  
Setsuna managed a tight smile."You're a good person, better than me.  
Here, take this, it's part of your legacy." The woman's arm  
disappeared into thin air, returning a moment later with the glaive  
Hotaru had seen in the flash of memory earlier. Almost as soon as the  
polearm was free from wherever its resting place had been, Setsuna  
dropped it, unable to compensate for its great weight.  
  
Hotaru grabbed it before it could strike the floor, amazed at just how  
heavy the weapon actually was. It had to be solid iron to weigh so  
much."What is this?"  
  
"You'll know soon enough. Now, please leave me, I'd like to be  
alone," Setsuna requested. Thousands of years without any emotional  
release, compounded by Ranma's ire with her, had drained Setsuna of  
energy more completely than if she had been fighting her way around a  
black hole in the Time Stream.  
  
"I'm gonna try to find Ranma. Do you want me to tell him anything?"  
Hotaru asked. While the weapon Setsuna had given her was well within  
her strength range, it would be rather conspicuous to carry it around,  
so she slid into weapons space with her normal staff, surprised that  
it fit so easily.  
  
Setsuna's eyes reflected the pain she felt at the mention of her son's  
name. Tears began to gather again and she sniffled  
repeatedly."Please, give him this."Again Setsuna repeated the trick of  
pulling objects from nowhere, this time returning with an odd, foot  
long blade that curved in opposite directions on either end."If he  
never wants to see me again, at least he'll have what is rightfully  
his. Tell him that I love him more than anything."  
  
Hotaru nodded, accepting the...whatever, and slipped it in with her  
staff and the odd glaive. If the glaive was heavier than it should  
have been, the weapon for Ranma was lighter than it's size should have  
allowed. As she wound her way through the house, towards the only  
exit she knew, Hotaru couldn't help but hear Setsuna's renewed  
sobbing.  
  
****  
  
Though no one would have blamed him if he had cried, Ranma wasn't the  
type to get weepy. No, Ranma was angry. When Ranma got angry he had  
to fight his aura constantly, lest it break loose and wreak havoc on  
his surroundings.  
  
His own mother, the woman who had given him life and helped to raise  
him, had betrayed him. It went beyond betrayal. His entire existence  
was nothing more than a lie. He'd depended on his mother over the  
years when the training became too much, when he felt that the  
pressures were too great.  
  
Ranma couldn't see how he'd been fooled for so long. He knew he  
wasn't the most perceptive of people, but over sixteen years of time  
should have been long enough to figure out that something wasn't  
right. Well, at least he still had his father, as little comfort as  
that was, and he knew the man to be as in the dark about his wife as  
Ranma had been.  
  
****  
  
Finding Ranma was easier than Hotaru had thought it would be. All she  
had to do was follow the energy drain. Ranma was sitting in the  
rafters on the underside of a small bridge, unaware of the havoc he  
was causing. Birds that happened to fly over the general area near  
Ranma fell from the sky, drained of energy and dying on impact with  
the ground or surrounding buildings. Hotaru herself had to fight  
tooth and nail to keep her own aura intact.  
  
She was thankful that an average person's aura was so weak and wrapped  
up within themselves that anyone driving across the bridge wouldn't  
suffer complete loss of energy, maybe at the worst feeling slightly  
tired.  
  
"Idiot, stop that!" Hotaru shouted, tossing her staff like a spear at  
Ranma. Ranma didn't even try to stop the projectile and it slammed  
into his stomach at full speed.  
  
"Oooof!" Ranma barked, his breath soundly knocked out. He leaned  
forward convulsively, overbalancing himself and falling uncontrollably  
into the water below.  
  
****  
  
"Usagi, I think you should stop worrying about what that girl thought  
of our outfits and help us decide whether or not the girl are new  
enemies," Makoto said.  
  
"But, guys, we look good in our uniforms, all the magazines say so!"  
Usagi wailed. If only that big mean demon hadn't shown up, they  
wouldn't have to worry about this. Why couldn't all the mean people  
go bother America or maybe China?  
  
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, Usagi," Ami advised.  
Ami's opinion ran toward Usagi needing to shut up, let her think for a  
while, and maybe getting some target practice in real soon before she  
threw around anymore energy beams.  
  
Usagi sniffled pathetically, but kept quiet on the subject.  
  
"I think we should treat them as enemies until we know for certain  
where they stand," said Rei."At least until I can do a thorough fire  
reading for both of them."  
  
"If they were evil, why did they help us today?" Minako asked."I mean,  
they could have just stood back and let us get thrashed by that big  
ugly demon woman." The boy couldn't be evil, he was just too cute,  
then again, all the guys they'd fought against had been anywhere from  
cute to gorgeous. Sigh. Oh well, he was probably evil incarnate with  
a smile like that.  
  
"Well, Ami, what do you say?" Makoto asked. All eyes turned to the  
bookish Senshi of Mercury.  
  
Ami shrugged."I didn't have my computer running. All I can say is  
that they didn't use traditional methods that we've come to associate  
with Negaverse representatives. No portals besides the demon's were  
open in the area, they didn't fly, and seemed to be dressed casually.  
Other than that, I have nothing of value to add. My opinion, though,  
whould be to trust them until they give us a reason not to.  
  
That sparked Rei's temper, and pretty soon the senshi meeting  
degenerated into another session of who can scream the loudest.  
  
****  
  
Ringing water from his pigtail, Ranma glared at Hotaru. He wasn't  
angry with her, too consumed with hateful thoughts about his mother,  
but he was angry at himself for not dodging such an obvious and slow  
attack.  
  
"Don't look at me like that. You were draining people's aura up  
there, and killing birds." Hotaru liked birds."Even if you are angry,  
that's not a reason to lose control of yourself," Hotaru snapped,  
looking down on Ranma with her fists planted firmly on her hips.  
  
Ranma dropped his eyes and began to ring the moisture from his  
shirt."Yeah, well, I'm sorry, ok?" he muttered.  
  
"What, you gonna cry now?" Hotaru asked, poking Ranma in the side with  
the toe of her shoe.  
  
"Don't go there, Hotaru, do not even go there." Ranma stood up and  
stretched, creating a swirlling breeze of warped air to aide in drying  
his clothes.  
  
"Did you know that your mom cried like a baby after you left? She  
thinks you hate her," she told Ranma, trying to appeal to his lighter  
emotions.  
  
Ranma stood still, not responding as he continued to bend the air  
currents to his will.  
  
"Are you listening to me, Ranma? She thinks that her only child hates  
her. Quit whining and deal with it." She stomped up to Ranma and even  
though he was a inch or two taller than her, she managed to appear to  
look down on him."I just found out that the man who raised me, who I  
thought was my grandfather, stole me from my parents when I was an  
infant. Am I being a little bitch about it? No, I'm not even gonna  
kill my grandfather. Your mom said that if things had worked out how  
she had seen, I would be a weak girl right now, but I'm not. Happosai  
helped me become a martial artist and now I can take care of myself.  
Setsuna raised you and cared for you even though she thought she'd  
failed, when she could have just left you to Genma's mercy."  
  
"You don't know what you're talking about, Hotaru. Happosai raised  
you, but you never knew your parents. How can you know that 'Setsuna'  
didn't cause you to be injured in that other possible future? She's  
manipulated the whole world." Ranma met Hotaru's gaze and held her  
transfixed."Think what your parents must have felt like when they  
couldn't find you. Their little baby just disappeared in the night?  
How many people held them responsible? Maybe they were carrying you  
down the street and the little pervert just snatched you out of your  
mother's arms."  
  
Hotaru growled, then, with full amaguriken speed, bitch slapped Ranma.  
The irate boy's head snapped back and blood splattered from a split  
lip.  
  
****  
  
Author's Notes: Uh, I'm not really satisfied with this chapter, but I  
couldn't think of any way to make it much better. I'm not good at  
emotional stuff, angst especially, so this may be rather lacking.  
Setsuna isn't an evil bitch, oh my. What else? Oh yeah, would Kasumi  
make a good avatar for Life? Death, Order, Chaos, Life, Silence,  
Void(these are not stolen aspects from the delphi forum, it just seems  
that way) are what I have in mind so far, but any others you could  
think of and send me would be good, too. I might have the senshi  
being avatars of their respective elements, but I'm not sure. Well,  
thanks for slogging through my attempts at humanizing Pluto and making  
Ranma an insensitive ass. Next chapter promises to be more action,  
destruction, and power-up packed, like normal, really. C&C and  
suggestions to my questions can be sent to me at  
dark_phoneix@hotmail.com 


End file.
